World of Warcraft: Legion Dev Talk Liveblog

Members of the World of Warcraft development team will be jumping back onto a stream this Sunday, August 9 at 8 a.m. PDT to dive further into the expansion’s features and content. We've got a liveblog of the event below, as well as a special edition of Wowhead Weekly analyzing the show:

Q & A Liveblog

Introductions: Tom Chilton, Ion Hazzikostas, Alex Afrasiabi

Q: How has the mood been in the team leading up to this?A: Excitement, we've been working on this for a year and a half. We've known this was coming after since we first did the WOD concept. Huge relief to share it.

Q: What was it like to see the crowd react?A: Loved seeing the roar of the audience at major hits i.e. Ashbringer

Recap Video of the Expansion reveal

Lore

Q: Where are we in terms of the world? Current Azeroth?A: Yes, we're in Current Azeroth. We care about this world.

Q: Did Archimonde send Gul'dan there and why?A: Core story of Azeroth - why does the Legion still continue to try and take over this world? This is part of the story of Legion

Q: Why was Gul'dan happy to see Illidan?A: He is under orders with plans to fulfill and Illidan is part of it

Q: Is Illidan a bad guy?A: He's pretty pissed off but we're asking for his help possibly and he's probably pretty pissed off.

Q: How did the Legion get to the Broken Isles?A: 12k years ago, highbourne night elves had pillars of creation to sear a wound - temple of Elune is over it. The wound has now been opened with Demons infinitely spilling out of it.

Costume Contest Recap Video & Discussion

New Zones

Q: Dalaran?A: Dalaran is conceptually moving to Broken Isles, but the old Dalaran will be there. The new one has updates i.e. Underbelly.

Q: Will I get to fly in the new continent?A: Eventually yes, we thought Warlords was good in the way flying was introduced. Starting in 7.0, the first steps will be available to start to work towards flying in Legion.

Artifacts

Q: How does it work through progression?A: They are your companion - when you start out you claim your Artifact. You have 2 upgrade paths - the weapon talents, and the actual stats like weapon damage, etc. These drop as relics. This will replace weapon drops. There may be some early weapon drops as a catch up. Mythic, for example, will drop more powerful relics.

Q: Dual Specs?A: You can earn the others after you start out with one. We have some catch up mechanisms in mind, except relics - those you will need to get dropped separately for each Artifact.

Professions

Q: Professions?A: Definitely a focus for us in Legion, we heard your feedback and have more designers on professions. New questlines for each profession, looking into systems improvements i.e. new functionality, expertise in individual recipes, UI changes.

Live Challenge Mode/Raid Race Recap Video and Discussion

Demon Hunters

Q: Explain the class?A: DH Class we considered during BC but we weren't totally comfortable adding a new class yet. Lots of history in the game. High mobility, agile, dashing around the battlefield.

Q: Class design method?A: We start with the fantasy inspiration. What is the core fantasy, and what are class mechanics that would go with that. We prototype them quickly after that.

Q: 12th character slot?A: Yes.

Q: Melee dps and tank spec - how do we differentiate from DK/Monk? Fear for their raid spot?A: No, very different. Dk is heavily armored, slow, deliberate. DH is agile, etc. Monk is more hybridized, more healing, etc. That's not in the DH kit. DH kit is more being in your face, avoiding damage where possible. We want to make sure they feel distinct. We think melee players will be the ones to reroll to DH so not a risk at lots of melee.

Comment by Glenmorange

Comment by GrifGrif

on 2015-08-09T11:01:19-05:00

"Q&A"

Comment by Alasdaer

on 2015-08-09T11:05:49-05:00

Well... that was disappointing.

Comment by Kozzie

on 2015-08-09T11:07:58-05:00

Stop shoving expansions down players throats in order to save subs, develop content, storyline, a reason to go kill something and for the love of god - please stop Pre-made groups and reinvigorate the reason to be in a guild - that is where you built your social environment, small/medium sized guilds are DEAD because nobody has a reason to stay committed to them due to pre-made groups.

Comment by NytemareRulez

on 2015-08-09T11:21:56-05:00

I just love how all the crappy questions get asked and answered. Like how did you feel about reaction you got when you reveled legion? That a stupid question, real questions ask important things, like class changes, etc..

Comment by Stormeey

on 2015-08-09T11:23:37-05:00

Im very surprised at all the disappointed people. Overall the reveal of upcoming expansion gave us SO SO SOOO much more this time than ever before. Chronically unhappy people i am guessing.

Sure I too would have like to have seen more in depth detail on areas that I have a particular interest in but since i was so pleasantly surprised at how much we DID get to see that i am choosing to focus on that !

Comment by musxe

on 2015-08-09T11:25:40-05:00

waned to hear about pvp more....

Comment by trueshotaura44

on 2015-08-09T11:30:25-05:00

In all seriousness though...Were those staged questions?I knew the "q&a" would be like that because we are so far out but it would have been nice to hear atleast one question that wasn't already answered from the original livestream>.>

Comment by Mudmug

on 2015-08-09T12:00:51-05:00

"Q: Melee dps and tank spec - how do we differentiate from DK/Monk? Fear for their raid spot?

A: DH kit is more being in your face, avoiding damage where possible. We want to make sure they feel distinct. We think melee players will be the ones to reroll to DH so not a risk at lots of melee."

We already have rogues.... /cry

Comment by Alkony

on 2015-08-09T12:01:33-05:00

Q: Will I get to fly in the new continent?A: Eventually yes, we thought Warlords was good in the way flying was introduced.

They really need to stop using the past tense for flying in Draenor. It hasn't been added yet!

If this is a full transcript of the Q&A, it seems like a significant waste of time. The fansite interviews over the last couple days have been more informative.

Comment by Stormheimr

on 2015-08-09T12:20:55-05:00

Are fire mages going to be melee, since they get Felo'melorn? Would fit with Blizzard's current goal of making classes less homogenized.